Today (October 13th), Korean company Kolmar announced its collaboration with the Joint Industry-Academia Cooperation Group of KNU (Kongju National University) to jointly develop a sunscreen product that can block both ultraviolet (UV) and near-infrared (NIR) rays by the year 2025.
It is reported that the Joint Industry-Academia Cooperation Group of KNU possesses the world’s first large-scale production technology for gold nanorods. Gold nanorods are rod-shaped substances formed by gold particles in nanoscale, capable of absorbing near-infrared radiation.
Kolmar stated that near-infrared radiation derived from sunlight can raise skin temperature, leading to problems such as enlarged pores and skin dryness. Lowering skin temperature can help alleviate aging caused by heat. By incorporating gold nanorods into sunscreen products, the facial temperature outdoors can be reduced by approximately 2°C compared to existing near-infrared sunscreen products, and by approximately 3.5°C compared to sunscreen products that only block UV rays. Compared to not applying any sunscreen at all, the temperature reduction can be around 5°C.
Therefore, Kolmar plans to collaborate with the Joint Industry-Academia Cooperation Group of KNU to utilize their developed gold nanorods as a material and research and develop a product that can not only block UV rays but also prevent heat-induced aging issues.
